Dtjbujeb and philip dttbixieb



W. AND P. DUBILIER.

RADIOSIGNALING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED sun I0' 1916.

1,382,177. Patented June 21, 1921.

INVENTOR WILL/AM DUB/L/ER AND PH/LIP DUB/HER MJEH A TTORN Yv WITNESSES:

UNITED sTATEsPATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM DUBILIER PHILIP DUIBILIER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS '10 SPEBRY GYROSCOPE COMPANY A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

RADIOSIGNALING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 21, 1921.

Application filed J'u1y.10, 1916. Serial No. 108,287.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, VILLIAM Dummies and PHILIP DUBILIER, citizens of the United States, residing at 81 New street, New York cit in the county of New York and State of ew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Radiosignaling Apgaratus, of which the following isa specication. I v

This invention relates to im rovements in the method and apparatus or producing hi h frequency electrical oscillations suitable for wireless communication in which direct .or alternatin current is used and high frequency oscilfiitions are produced by a sim le, light and highly efficient apparatus. t comprises a system of circuits in which electrical energy is impressed through an inductance upon an oscillator or condenser charging device in such a manner that these currents are transformed into high fre uency oscillations with a high degree of ehicienc and these oscillations again in turn are radiated in an aerial wire system. The primary and secondary oscillating circuits although closely coupled, due to the characteristics of the apparatus and its operation, do not react upon each other. A further advantage of my invention is that the two circuits need not be tuned to exactly or near the same wave lengths as is now common in practice. Referring to the drawin in which what we now consider to be tfi: preferred forms of our invention are shown,

Figure 1 is a wiring of our invention.

Fig. 2 is a wiring diagram of an important modification.

In Fig. 1, A is the source of supply; I, inductive resistance consisting preferablf of but a sin le coil N on a magnetic core h O is an osci lator or condenser chargin device comprising electrodes Hand E; 5 is capacity of GOIgEIatlW-EIY small size and L an inductance; is a switch or hand operated key; .B is an aerial and G a ground or counter capacity. A source of current is connected through the inductive resistance, I, which in this case is a powerful electro-magnot. One member H ofthe oscillator O is mountedon a spring S, and forms the armature of electro-magnet I. The spring S may be of any suitable form. It ma be in the form of a flat disk, as shown, c amped diagram of one form around the periphery in the manner of a telephone transmitter. This form of sprin possesses the advantage that it will respon to oscillations having widely varyin periods. The oscillator is so constructe that the primary circuit IOLKA may be pe riodically interrupted in such a manner that an are or discharge will form at 0 between electrodes H and E. These electrodes are constructed and located so that they will tend to quench the are or to discharge in such a manner as to strain it to the greatest possible extent; hence charging the condenser C through the inductance L. For this purpose, the electrodes are constructed with very large discharge surfaces or faces compared to their distance of movement and may also be provided with heat radiating fins F.

The discharge faces of the electrodes, it should be noted, are parallel to each other and are moved so as to maintain this relation, so that the arc may form between any points on the two surfaces. In operation, the oscillator vibrates rapidly, the electrodes continually striking together and drawing apart. This movement performs a number of important functions in addition to the function usually performed b the spark gap in Wireless apparatus. mong these functions are: 1st. the breaking of the primary circuit and the setting up of inductive currents in winding 1, so that it in efi'ect produces a high potential discharge from a low potential circuit; 2nd, the drawing of an are between them; 3rd, the rapid quenching of the are by the drawing apart of the electrodes. The strength of the arc, of course. is tremendously increased during this time by the discharge of the condenser (f around through the oscillating circuit OCL: 4th, the electrode surfaces are cleaned and flattened by their continual contact with one another. By this means, we are enabled to make use of a very much smaller arc gap than has heretofore been found practicable. since with stationary electrodes metallic particles or scales are apt to form. which uickly short-circuit closel positioned e lectrodes unless removed. he arc forms, of course, when the gap is infinitesimahand their rate of separation serves to control in a measure the wave form of both the primary and oscillating circuit currents. It should also be noted that the inductance preciablev proportion ofthe current flowing through the arc, since, as above'explained,

we usea low voltage primary circuit (say about 100 volts D. C.) and therefore make use of a very much larger current (say. -1- an ampere) than heretofore employed in the wireless sets in which the current used is infinitesimal. By the use of low voltage and a comparatively large cur-rent, we are also enabled to charge the condenser in a much less time than ordinarily required.

Also, the employing of anappreciable current from the'p'rima'ry doubtless aids in the quick quenching of' the arc. This may be readily understood when it is remembered that the'condenser discharges first in one direction and then in the other, and that in (lischarging in one direction it is aided by the inductance of winding 1', while when discharging in the other direction, it is op posed by said inductance. It follows that there will quickly come a time when the two currents will be equal and opposite and the arc extinguished.

Electro-magnet lie; so constructed that it is placed in very close proximity to the discharge surface at 0, so that the are or dis charge will be further quenched. The arc is quenched to such an extent that the condenser C will be charged with the greatest amount of energy and the circuit OCL broken in the shortest possible time so that the oscillations induced in the radiating circuit BLG will continue to oscillate until practically all the power is radiated before any of the energy will be re-induced into the circuit ()CL. Hence, we have two oscillat ing circuits OCL and BLG so constructed that for all practical purposes. the circuit ()CL will affect the circuit BLG, but the circuit BLG in turn will not affect the circuit OCL. To further increase the quenching effect electrode H is formed almost entirely of, soft iron or the like, with only its face coated with a very-thin layer of a good conductor, such as silver. By this means the magnetic lines of force are strengthened at the are. It should'be notedthat inductance L performs the functions of both coils L, and L in Fig. 2, and thatthe two oscillating circuits, therefore, remain closely coupled. w I

In the operation described above, after the arc is formed between the electrodes H and E, the arc is extinguished in such a minute period of time (of the micro-second order) that the. energy hich may be'stored up on the inductive resistance I will be used again to charge the condenser C. Practically all of this energy will be utilized in charging this condenser for the rapid extinguishing and breaking of the circuit and will practically transform this energy into a potential. The condenser C is of very small value :as compared to that fusually shunted across the gap of a Rhumkorf coil for the purpose of extinguishing the are, It is well known that if the large condensers in the Rhumkorf apparatus were made smaller th circuit would not be interrupted but an arc would form and continue to form without actually breaking the circuit. It, is our object to utilize this are and we strain this are as above described instead of robbing this energ by means of a capacity. Under these con itions, it becomespossible to efficiently produce powerful oscillations with com aratively small potentials and with' smal inexpensive apparatus, as this circuit OCL. can be operated with a direct current source by the above quenching.

These oscillations so produced are induced into another oscillating or radiating system whose natural period of oscillation need not be the same or near the same natural period of the closed or first mentioned oscillating circuit, but may, and in actual practice are found, to vary widely therefrom. It is well known in the art that unless there is fairly efficient radiation, the transmitting. apparatus will overheat and cause otherdefects in a short time of operation. Therefore. it is essential not only for etlicient operation but in order to avoid damage to the apparatus, that the radiation should be efticient and in proportion to the amount of power actually applied to the apparatus.

We have accomplished the above result to a fairly high degree Without the necessity of carefully adjusting and attuning all circuits especially the high frequency oscillating circuit and the high frequency radiating circuit, and can obtain efficient operation and radiation with the circuits which are greatly out of'tune, and which remain closely coupled to each other. I

- In practice, we find our invention especially adapted for aeroplan Work where the two circuits often become out of tune. According to our invention the primary oscillatin circuit may have a wave length of (say for example) 300 meters andthe radiating circuit of 400 or 500 meters and et We are able to get eflicient radiation. ence, due to this particular system and construction, the primaryv and secondary inductances may be fixed and no tuning ad just-ments are needed.

described method of An im rtant modification is shown in Fig. 2, w ere A is again the source of supp)ly; I, electro-magnetic inductive resistance;

the oscillator; L and L prima and secondary inductances; C, the capacitiy for radio frequenciesyU capacity 0 comparatively large value and I another inductance. We prefer to make the l and I inductances of such values that the current will build up, according to the ordinary exponential curve, to a maximum in a time period which will be approximately e ual to the Working period of the spring and to make the condenser C of such a value that the circuit C,IOL,, has a natural time period whose frequenc is the same or about the same as the working frequency of the spring S. That is, this circuit may be said to be of audible frequency while the other circuits are of radio frequency. Under these conditions, we could maintain mechanical and electrical synchronism and hence have more uniform operation.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, we have herein described the principle of o eration of our invention, together with t e apparatus, which we now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but we desire to have it understood that the a paratus shown is onl illustrative and that the invention can e carried out b other means. Also, .while it is designe to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described our invention, what'we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a wireless telegraph apparatus, a primary current circuit containing an electro-magnetic inductive resistance, an oscillating current circuit containing a highly quenched oscillator and a radiating circuit, an electrode of the oscillator being movable and afiected by the primary electro-magnetic inductance, said electrode being made almost wholly of magnetic material, whereby the magnetic lines of force are brought into close roximity with the gap.

2. n a portable radio apparatus, a primary circuit including an electro-magnetic oscillator consisting of relatively movable electrodes, having very large heat radiating surfaces, the effective surface area of which is very large compared to the distance of movement, and at least one electrode being almost wholly constructed of ma netic material, thus bringing the magnetic lines of force in close proximity to the gap.

3. In combination, a make and break spark gap, a resilient member carrying one of the gap contacts, means fixedly securing said resilient member at, at least, two oints oppositely located with respect to an substantially equidistant from the contact carried by said member and a radio oscillating circuit connected to said gap.

4. In combination with a radio oscillating circuit, means for insuring the regularity of the tone emitted by said circuit and'comprising a vibratory spark gap across which said circuit is connected, said spark ap comprising a pair of relatively movab%e electrodes and a diaphragm, one of said electrodes bein mounted substantially in the center of said diaphragm.

5. In combination with a radio oscillating circuit, means for insuring the regularity of the tone emitted by said circuit and comprising a resilient plate supported at at least two spaced points, a contact carried substantially at the center of said plate so that said contact moves parallel to itself, a cooperating contact juxta osed to said first mentioned contact, an means for vibrating said first mentioned contact and for impressing an E. M. F. across said contacts, said radio oscillating circuit being connected to said contacts.

6. In combination, a make and break spark gap, a resilient member carrying one of the gap contacts, means fixedly securing said resilient member at, at least, three angularly spaced points substantially equidistant from the contact carried by said member and aradio oscillating circuit connected to said ap. g 7. In combination, a vibratory spark gap, means constraining one of the contacts of said gap to move parallel to itself, one of the contacts of said gap being constructed al most wholly of magnetic material, a source of magneto-motive force located adjacent said gap and a radio oscillating circuit connected across said gap.

In testimony whereof we have afiixed our signatures.

WILLIAM DUBILIER. PHILIP DUBILIER. 

